The video of the Pakistani man who fought with a white man at Pallekele stirs social media (video)

During the Super 8 stage match of the 2026 T20 World Cup Cricket tournament between England and Pakistan, held on Tuesday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, a heated situation arose between groups of spectators from both sides. According to videos circulating on social media, an argument between a Pakistani supporter named Saud and an English spectator escalated into a severe physical altercation.

It is reported that several local Sri Lankan spectators who were watching the match had to intervene to control the situation and separate the two groups.

The incident garnered significant attention after Australian social media activist Jake Jennings released a video of the altercation online. Jennings stated that he had previously encountered the Pakistani spectator in question during the tournament and accused him of being a person who constantly instigates such conflicts, urging the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take action against him. However, Saud has denied these allegations, claiming that English supporters initially approached him and behaved inappropriately, and that the altercation began when they threw beer at him. Nevertheless, tournament authorities have not yet issued any official statement regarding the incident.

In the match, which began amidst this tense atmosphere, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first, managing to score 164 runs for 9 wickets at the end of their allotted 20 overs. Opening batsman Sahibzada Farhan played an excellent innings, scoring 63 runs off 45 balls, while captain Babar Azam, who struggled to accelerate the scoring rate, was dismissed for 25 runs. Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan also made significant contributions to Pakistan's innings. In bowling, England's Liam Dawson delivered a standout performance, taking 3 wickets for 24 runs.

Chasing a winning target of 165 runs, the England team failed to get off to a successful start. Phil Salt was dismissed for a duck on the very first ball of the innings bowled by Shaheen Shah Afridi, who then went on to take the wickets of Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell shortly thereafter.

However, England captain Harry Brook, who came in at number 3, played a magnificent innings, scoring 100 runs off 51 balls to record his maiden T20 International century. Becoming the first captain to score a century in a Men's T20 World Cup match, he single-handedly guided the England team back towards victory. Brook was eventually dismissed by a yorker from Afridi, who claimed 4 wickets in total.

In the latter part of the innings, several irresponsible dismissals by English batsmen led to a nail-biting finish, with the match going down to the final over. With 3 runs needed for victory and 2 wickets in hand in the last over, Jofra Archer hit a boundary, securing the win for England. England thus scored 166 runs for 8 wickets in 19.1 overs, recording a thrilling 2-wicket victory with 5 balls to spare. With this result, England became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of this tournament, while Pakistan's semi-final hopes now depend on the results of other matches. Therefore, winning their next and final Super 8 stage match is crucial for them to remain in the tournament.

Watch the video related to this incident ›